Cultural differences between Americans of Japanese and European ancestry in parental valuing of social competence

A growing body of literature exists concerning the development of social competence in children and adolescents. Much of this research has focused on the intra and inter-individual dynamics at the level of peer interaction and on issues of measurement and definition. To a lesser extent, attention has been drawn to parental correlates of competencies. One dimension of parenting is the cultural background which parents bring into a childrearing situation. Several researchers note that the study of social competence research suffers from insufficient research into cross-cultural influences, and that there is a need for greater understanding of the effects of culture on the development of competencies in children. In reviewing the literature on the effects of specific childrearing techniques on certain competencies, Rollins and Thomas conclude that use of particular methods, strategies, and techniques are not effective in promoting particular kinds of behaviors unless these behaviors are valued by parents. The valuing of a particular set of competencies often can be attributed to cultural influences.